Newsmakers, the week of 12-27-2012

December 26, 2012

Myron D. Moss, Drexel U.’s music program director at its Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, who died this past July, was commemorated with a special concert held earlier this month by the school’s Concert Band at Mandell Theater.

Jeffrey Rosen, psychology prof at the U of Delaware, is the 2012 Neuroscientist of the Year, chosen by the Delaware Chapter, Society for Neuroscience.

U of P grad and Valley Forge native Tory Burch has seen her fashion line elevated to the top of Google’s recently announced Trending Apparel Brands.

Bill England has been chosen as the new project director for the Philadelphia area’s Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, headquartered at the Klein JCC. The non-profit org offers the services of hundreds of volunteers for communal and civic projects.

David Dinenberg and Michael J. Boni have been appointed board president and vice president, respectively, of the Jewish National Fund.

Einstein’s Breast Program, directed by Dr. Lisa Jablon, has earned a three-year re-accreditation designation by the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers, a program of the American College of Surgeons.

Cantor Kerith Spencer-Shapiro of Temple Sholom in Broomall is featured in To God’s Ears: A Documentary. The film, showcasing 20 cantors, including Spencer-Shapiro, performing a concert in a Roman basilica, will be screened Jan. 27 at Temple Sholom.

Philly “bad boy” Bob Saget just penned a deal to author his first book. The tome, coming from It Books of Harper Collins in 2014, will be, says the publisher of the comic’s effort, “dirty.”

Newly elected board members of the Pennsylvania Medical Society include Dr. Steven A. Shapiro, a pediatrician, as primary care trustee; and Dr. Michael Feinberg, a psychiatrist, psychiatry trustee.

Marketing guru Ellen Toplin is a new member of the board of Montgomery County Community College.

Philly/New Jersey author Jack Engelhard (Indecent Proposal) has written a column for the Washington Times on “It’s Good to Be Jewish at Christmas.”

Philadelphian Alison Klayman’s documentary, Ai Weiwei Never Sorry, has been awarded a 2013 duPont-Columbia Prize, the broadcast/digital industry’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize. The film, about a prominent Chinese social and political critic under government scrutiny in his homeland, is also on the short list for Oscar consideration.

Maribeth Lerner has been named to the board of American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.